Altice confirms Media Capital discussions

In response to a request by the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários) multinational cable, fibre, telecommunications, content and media company Altice has confirmed that it has entered into exploratory discussions with Promotora de Informaciones (Prisa) regarding a potential acquisition of Prisa’s stake in Portuguese media group Media Capital, which has a leadership positions in TV broadcasting, audiovisual production, radio, digital, music and entertainment.

In November 2005, Grupo Prisa became the largest shareholder of Grupo Media Capital. At the beginning of 2007, and following the outcome of the Tender Offer bid launched in October 2006, Grupo Prisa’s shareholding position increased to 73.7 per cent, after acquiring RTL Group’s stake.

Reports emerged in November 2016 that Prisa was seeking to divest its interest in the company as part of a financial restructuring, with Altice strongly linked with a potential acquisition. Altice already owns PT Portugal, the largest telecommunications service provider in Portugal.

The European Union May 19th alleged that Altice breached EU rules by prematurely taking over PT without full clearance from regulators. Altice announced its planned purchase of the company from Brazil’s Oi in December 2014 for €7.4 billion. It notified the EC in February 2015, gaining approval for the transaction in April 2015. In its statement , the EC said Altice had “implemented the acquisition prior to the adoption of the Commission’s clearance decision, and in some instances, prior to its notification.”

In the television segment Grupo Media Capital owns TVI – the leading Portuguese free-to-air TV broadcasting channel, the news channel TVI24, TVI Ficção (local drama), TVI África (for Angola and Mozambique), TVI Reality (reality shows) and TVI Internacional; the second largest radio group in Portugal, including the audience leader in Portugal Rádio Comercial, M80, Cidade, SmoothFM, VodafoneFM and the online radio station Cotonete; and Media Capital Digital, a multimedia company whose principal brand, IOL, is the second largest national Internet gateway.

The Group has also strong positions in other business related to the media sector, such as Audiovisual Production – through the multinational company (and, among others, Emmy winner for best telenovela in 2010) Plural Entertainment – music edition and musical events, by Farol Musica.